Zeppo: The Star Wars Tale
by Borg39
Summary: During Zeppo An accident occurs and three unlikely travelers wind up far, far away
1. Chapter 1

A/N: While working on the next part to Xander the Magus this little bunny popped up and pranced about until I had to pet her. Now shes happy. Hope you enjoy!

Willow stared in horror at the hydra-like demon rose from the floor of the library. She heard Giles mutter something about it having have grown but right now the only thing she could think about at the moment was Oz and Xander. As she muttered out the beginning of the spell to reseal the Hellmouth, Willow admitted to herself, even if she wouldn't admit it to anyone else, that they were a little hard on Xander but at least he wasn't here tonight. Xander would live, even if it was only for one more night, and she wouldn't have to witness him dying while trying to save them. The one she feared for the most was Oz. If they failed he would be the first one to suffer and it would be all her fault. She should have found a more safe and secure site for him while this was happening. Or maybe a spell that would allow him to either change at will or stop changing altogether. As soon as this was all over she would put all her effort into trying to help Oz. All thought of her boyfriend and her best friend was driven out of her mind as one of the hydra's head knocked her back into the wall. Little did she know that Xander was indeed at the high school tonight and was at that very moment facing down an undead O'Toole over a large home made bomb.

"You'll die too!" O'Toole told Xander, a glint of fear in his eyes.

Xander merely shrugged and smiled. "I like the quiet."

Giles and Willow had read everything they could on the Hellmouth and what effects might occur when it opened. One effect that they had dismissed, as nobody in their little group used them, was one line that warned about the unpredictable effect the energies of the Hellmouth had on the 'devices of man'. O'Toole, feeling fear for the first time since he had been revived, reached over the bomb to disengage the timer.

Unseen by both parties the Powers that be watched the confrontation with impassive faces. As O'Toole reached across the Eldest of the powers, a man with gray hair and beard gestured and the scene froze.

"The boy once more emerges victorious." A female power said.

"He doesn't have to." Eldest told the enclave.

"We are forbidden to directly interfere with mortals. The boy must be allowed to live or die according to his fate and destiny." One of the males answered.

"We have all seen what might be." The Eldest pointed to Xander. "This boy may prove our undoing just as Eve was the undoing of the Greek powers. We must not allow him to destroy us."

"We are overlooking one possibility." The youngest power among them, a little girl with white hair down to her feet, said. "It may be our fate to be destroyed by this young man. That our time has come to an end."

"No," Eldest said "Without us the mortals would perish. They require us to manage the war with the darkness or they will perish."

"I believe," The youngest spoke once more. "That that was the exact same argument that the Greek powers used to justify the killing of a mere babe. Is history repeating itself once more?"

Her words set fire to the powers. Arguments broke out as one side or the other spoke for or against taking action against Xander. While they were arguing the Youngest tilted her head to the side, as if she was listening to something. Finally she broke into the yelling mob.

"Very well." She did not yell but her voice pierced the noise being created by the others and they fell silent. "The majority of you wish the boy removed. I will go with the majority on this issue. In fact I will even remove him for you."

"How?" Every power in the room spoke at once.

"It is simple. I will merely use the tools that fate has provided us. These will be more then adequate. The boy, one touched by the hand of chaos, shall be removed from Earth and shall trouble you no longer." She told them.

"You mean trouble us." The Eldest corrected her. "You are one of us."

"I am not." She answered. "I am simply an adviser. I have given my advice but you have chosen to ignore me. Now I will act in accordance with your wishes. Now unfreeze it."

The Eldest narrowed his eyes in distrust but did as she commanded. The scene began right where it had left off up until Jack went to pull the wire. The youngest made a gesture, so small most of the others missed it, and Jack's head began to swim. Seeing double yet knowing that he had mere seconds until the bomb detonated Jack pulled a wire, the wrong wire. The resulting explosion would have normally fed the open Hellmouth and allow the demons inside to have free rein upon our world. Luckily the energies of the Hellmouth worked against itself in this instance. Having been completely drenched in the dimensional energies of the open Hellmouth the bomb tore open a wormhole to another place. The wormhole sucked everything in: Xander, Jack, the doors and even werewolf Oz were drawn in.

The young power nodded in satisfaction and turned to face the others. "It is done. The boy is no longer a danger to you."

"You Fool!" Eldest grabbed the Youngest by the front of her robes and lifted her up. "What about that portal? It will devour everything and soon Earth will be no more!"

The Youngest's eyes flashed a bright sliver and the Eldest flew across the room and slammed into the wall. "Do not forget who you are assaulting. I will excuse your more recent behavior as those that you normally come into contact with are morons. Try that once more and I will release my full power against yours and I doubt that your brothers and sisters would lend you their aid in this fight. Now, " She turned back to the scene and it rose into the library proper. "I was about to deal with the wormhole with my most effective tool. If you would excuse me."

In the library Willow flew to her feet, her eyes going entirely black. Spreading her hands out in front of her a deep sliver stream of power flew from them into the Hellmouth. Slowly, ever so slowly, the energy forced the hydra back into the Hellmouth once more. Once it was completely back in the energy completely covered the opening. "Giles, Now!" Willow yelled.

Together the two of them, Giles using his knowledge and Willow providing the raw power, they cast the spell and sealed the Hellmouth. The energy that Willow was using did not stop there; It kept going down into the depths of the school until it encountered the open end of the wormhole and sealed it as well. Before the young power left Willow she saw a chance to ensure that the witch continued to remain her vassal. She touched Willow's memory and altered it. Now Willow would believe that it was her, using magic she barely understood, that created the wormhole. Worse yet, she would know that Oz and Xander were both lost to it. Satisfied with her manipulations the youngest departed, leaving a broken, crying Willow upon the library floor.


	2. Unwilling Immigrants

Chapter 2- Unwilling immigrants

Disclaimer: Joss owns Buffy and Lucas owns Star Wars. I am merely borrowing them for a little trip though the tangle mess that is my mind. Enjoy!

A galaxy far, far away….

As each of the three travelers entered the universe they were each touched by the force. Oz and Xander were merely connected to the force as any life form in this universe would be with a single exception: The Darkside, under the control of Darth Sidious, clouded their minds. While all three of them had watched the Star Wars movies, the Darkside clouded any knowledge that they had concerning Darth Sidious or his plans. They would see things that would cause them a feeling of Déjà vu but they would be unable to place where or why it seemed familiar. Jack, on the other hand, was claimed by the Darkside of the Force. It filled his being, filling his every cell and allowing him to continue to exist. All of this occurred in the time it took the portal to travel to its destinations.

Meanwhile….

Out of the three stellar travelers, Oz was the luckiest. He landed on a small moon that orbited Uvena III amidst a small order of Shistavanen monks. The members of the order were all a werewolf-like species. A group of the monks were meditating in the tree lined courtyard when the portal appeared, accompanied by lighting and large amounts of strong wind. The oldest monk, a Shistavanen by the name of Riv, rushed over to the site just as Oz came through.

Once he hit the ground Oz began to transform back. Riv arrived just in time to see Oz finish shifting from werewolf to human. Blinking his eyes Riv wondered, and he wasn't the only one in the small crowd, wither he had been seeing things or if what he just saw was just his imagination. Coming to his senses Riv pulled his cloak off and covered up the nude young man.

"Go away." He told the others. "This young one needs rest. Back to your meditations."

Slowly he was able to shoo the others. Carefully picking up the sleeping young man, Riv carried him to a small building and laid him in a bed. Pulling a chair out he sat down and waited. Oz slept more than an hour before awaking. He sat up, noticing that he was not in his room or in the cage at school. Then he saw the werewolf calmly sitting next to his bed.

Before Oz could move or say anything Riv spoke. "Peace, pup. No harm will come to you here. I am Riv, who are you?"

"Oz."

"Pup, what are you? Wolf one moment, human next, Shouldn't be possible." Riv asked.

"I am a werewolf." Oz told him.

"Werewolf? What is that?"

"Well, that's a long story." Oz told him, drawing the robe on. "You have a few minutes?"

"Take what time you need, we shall not be disturbed." Riv answered.

"Ok. First I want to know where I am. Am I on a different plane, dimension or what?" Oz asked.

"You are on a small moon orbiting the planet Uvena III in the Seswenna sector of the outer rim. We believe that the call should be controlled and not permitted to rule our lives. Is that enough?" Riv asked.

"Sounds like the Jedi from Star Wars to me." Oz commented.

"Our order was established by a Shistavanen Jedi. After his training he returned here and was saddened by the way his people acted. He established our order to allow us to learn to control our predator instincts." Riv's answered.

"Whoa, I'm in Star Wars. Cool." Oz took a moment to think before continuing. "Alright here's my story…."

It took Oz an hour or two to tell his story. As he was speaking Riv watched him carefully. Finally Oz came to an end at the point the last remembered: Being locked up in the library before waking up here.

They sat in silence for a moment or two before Riv spoke up. "Hmmm, interesting story pup. You are at odds with yourself. Denying part of yourself is no better than giving in to your urges."

"I am only the wolf three times a month." Oz protested.

Riv shook his head. "Regardless of when you are wolf and when you are human, the wolf is always a part of you. You can join us here; learn to accept your primal instincts and to control them. Interested, pup?"

Oz was speechless for a moment while he thought about it. "You think I could?" He said.

"We learn to control our primal urges, pup. You can too." Riv answered.

"Let's do it."

"Very well, pup. Let's begin…." Riv then proceeded to instruct Oz in the art of meditation.

Light years away….

On the moon of Duxn, the portal appeared once more. The hostility in the room when the young power powered the wormhole influenced the planet where it released Xander. Duxn could, at best, be described as a death trap and that was on a good day. The portal once more appeared with large amounts of wind and lighting. Xander fell hard to the ground. Looking up he spotted an armored man fighting with a strange creature. From his geeky memory Xander realized that he was seeing an Mandalorian warrior.

The creature was a huge, red lizard with thick armor covering its entire body. It was a zakkeg, an alpha predator of the moon. The zakkeg was about to finish off the downed man when Xander arrived. Xander didn't need anymore than two seconds to come to a decision. Picking up a large, pointy branch from the ground he lunged forward and slammed the stick into the zakkeg's head. The zakkeg reacted as any animal would: It hit Xander with one of it's claws, sending him flying into a tree ten feet away. Xander hit the tree and fell to the ground. The downed man took the creature's momentary distraction as a chance to thrust with his blade, driving it through the beast's eye and deep into its brain. The beast gave one last shudder and fell to the ground, dead.

The stranger slowly picked himself up, leaning on his sword for support. Slowly he made his way over to the young man who had distracted the beast. Xander started straight up, his vision swimming, as the armored man came into view. Xander was a little, disorientated, by the approach of three armored individuals until he realized he had double vision. The armored man leaned down and ran his fingers all over Xander's body, checking him for wounds. Finally he or rather she, if her voice was anything to go by, stood up and yelled in a strange language. A few minutes later four other armored people, all in different colored armor, came out of the woods. They not only carried swords but also carried what appeared to be blaster rifles. That was all Xander saw, he passed out.

The other four warriors joined the woman.

"Ibic id'ika shabiir gar aka?" The largest warrior, a man wearing a dark green armor, asked.

"No," She said in basic. "He saved my life. Bring him. We must take him to see buir"

Two warriors split off while the other two stood guard. One warrior assisted the woman while the other picked up Xander. With several shots into the forest canopy from their blasters, the warriors headed out.

Coruscant…

Jack had the worst luck out of the three. The portal appeared in the private chambers of Darth Sidious himself and, unfortunately for Jack, he was home at the time. Jack barely had time to take a quick glance around before he was thrown up against the wall by force lighting. Coming toward him was Darth Sidious and he continued to pour lighting into the undead teenager.

"Curious," Sidious said, "The dark side screams within you yet you are not alive. Very curious."

"Stop," Jack protested weakly, "Please stop!"

"No my boy," Sidious answered, "You will feel pain beyond description until I discover what you are. After that you will serve me, this I have seen." Screams filled the room along with Sidious's laughter.


	3. Surprise!

Chapter three

One year later (One year until the Clone Wars will begin)....

"It's them!" Buffy yelled, "They ARE the sacrifices! Don't let them near the Hellmouth!"

The rest of the fight became a blur to Willow. Ever since the night they had lost Xander and Oz, Willow had delved deeply into her magical studies in a effort to bring them back. She had not yet been successful but, driven by her misplaced guilt, she had managed to expand her magical power greatly. Now she had a magical power base that would've otherwise taken her years to build. All magical power has a price, however, and Willow would have normally paid the price by using her time and effort. She now had a large pool of power but she didn't have as much control as she would have had had she continued to study. She was now able to cast very powerful spells that didn't otherwise have the results that she would have had if she had more control.

Willow watched, almost in indifference, as Spike and Riley joined the battle. Throughout the last year Willow's feeling of guilt had even prevented her from forming new friendships so she just barely tolerated Riley, although she was thankful that he had shown up before graduation and fallen for Buffy. If not for that then they would not have had the military grade explosives they had needed to kill the Mayor. She just couldn't help thinking that he was trying to replace Oz and Xander, and that Buffy was letting him.

Willow snapped back to the battle as the last of the three demons leaped into the Hellmouth. The ground shook and Willow felt the power begin to fill the room as the Hellmouth began to open. Even as Buffy and Riley were fiddling around with a rope and a tether, Willow acted. Calling up her power she released it, much as she did the year before, trying to keep the Hellmouth closed until Buffy's plan succeeded through pure overwhelming power. Just like the year before Willow's power completely engulfed the Hellmouth and it continued down into the school until it touched the sealed over wormhole.

If the wormhole had been left alone for even one more month then what happened next would not have been possible. As soon as Willow's power touched the patch it tore the wormhole open. Instead of just transporting everything in the room like last time, it followed the power up to the Hellmouth where it opened wide. It swallowed everyone in the room, Buffy, Riley, Willow and Spike were all engulfed by the open portal. After Willow had left the Hellmouth opened wide and completely absorbed the energy of the wormhole. Wave after wave of demon looked up to see the sky of Earth for the first time in centuries and cried out in joy as they leaped into the mortal realm. The powers above could only stare in horror at what was occurring on their plane. However, horror soon turned into anger directed at the two they felt were responsible for this predicament: The Eldest power and the youngest.

"It's not possible." The Eldest was whispering but everyone in the room had no trouble hearing him, "We removed the boy who was to cause this. Its not possible and it must be her doing!"

"You are all fools." The youngest told the other powers, "When the fates told you that young Xander may be the cause of your downfall you were willing to do anything, including eliminate free will, to maintain your power. You caused this entire situation. The guilt this poor witch feels has caused her to use magics she cannot control and that has opened the Hellmouth."

"You did all of this!" The Eldest power accused, "This is your witch and she is under your sway! I demand, in the name of The Powers that Be, that you fix this mess!"

"You don't understand. Willow is gone and so is your champion. You have no control over this and your power will dwindle until it completely belongs to the First." She looked around using her mental powers and saw that, almost without exception, that the powers were more concerned with losing their power then they were about the mortal lives that would perish. They did not know but the powers, except for two of them anyway, just lost the last chance they had. Now they would suffer. "I have been granted control over the portals of this realm." She told them.

"What! On whose command?" Eldest demanded.

"On the creators." She answered, "All of you shall suffer what you have wrought. The only thing I feel sorrow for is the poor mortals that will suffer as well. The gates will now be sealed. Reap what you have sown and may the First have mercy upon you." With a snap of her fingers she traveled to her new domain and she sealed all the portals to the realm of Earth.

A galaxy far, far away....

Nal Hutta, glorious jewel in the Huttesse, was by far the most disgusting place any human had ever set foot upon. Once the world was covered by forests, lakes and rivers but this all ended when the planet was bought by the Hutts. They transformed the jungles into a mess of marsh swamps and polluted lands until all that lived there was the insects that the Hutts loved so much. This was the planet the wormhole deposited the Scoobys onto.

Down in a dark alley the blue portal ripped open and, with a bright flash, Buffy, Riley, Willow and Spike were all dropped onto the ground. They slowly started to get to their feet when four Trandoshans, attracted by the bright light, came around the corner.

"Jabba will like thezze yezz?" their leader said, "He likzz blondezz."

As one the four of them pulled their blasters. Buffy and friends fell back into fighting positions and it looked as if the situation was going to degrade into a free for all when a powerful blaster bolt hit the ground in front of them.

"You know Slaiun," An armored mandalorian stepped into the alley with a large blaster drawn, "You have to be the stupidest reptile in the galaxy. I might agree with you that the boy MAY not be a threat but the two girls would have two of you on the ground in a minute. I think the fight would barely last two minutes and that's if I don't join in."

"Whyzz would you joinz themz?" Slaiun asked, "Wez have no troublezz with you."

"Because their my clients." He answered pulling another large blaster from its holster and pointing it at the trandoshan behind Slaiun, "Shall we?"

"No, no," With a wave of his hand the four of them backed out of the alley, "We wantz no troublez with you."

When they were gone the mandalorian holstered his weapons and Riley, feeling indebted to the armored figure, stepped forward.

"Hey, thanks. Where on Earth are we?" He asked, holding his hand out.

"Your not on Earth anymore and you don't have to thank me." He reached up, pressed two buttons on his neck and, with a hiss, the helmet came undone to reveal Xander. "After all Buffy and Willow are my best buds. Hey guys whats the what?"


	4. Xander's ship and Oz's struggles

A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long. I would like to thank my new beta, Wyeth, for his aid in making this chapter readable and for his input on addiitions to it. Thanks Wyeth!

A/N2: For those who want a picture of Xander's ship, here it is: .com/wiki/AIAT/I

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy, Star wars or any other charater you recognize from my stories. They all belong to the respective owners and I had no part in their creation. This is done for enjoyment and not profit. Thanks!

"Is that really you?" Willow asked, tears in her eyes.

"Last time I checked my underpants it was." Xander smiled and had to drop his helmet as both Willow and Buffy each rushed over to him. Holding both of his friends, Xander's eyes closed as memories began to flow through his mind. The first time he met Willow, his crash when he saw Buffy and every other wacky adventure that had followed.

Riley watched the reunion and savagely suppressed a small feeling of jealously. Fingering the trigger of his taser he analyzed his emotions. Xander was Buffy's dear friend, nothing more. There was never anything between them and there was nothing between them now. There was absolutely no reason to feel jealous. Calmed by his thoughts, Riley silently watched the reunion of the three dear friends.

While the scoobies were distracted, Spike took the chance to sneak away. Thanks to Dru he knew, by looking at the surroundings, that he was in Star Wars. Hell, Star Wars was one of the few things that calmed Dru down during the years she was injured. He knew more than he wanted to about this place, having had to put up with Dru's ramblings about her 'Dark Prince', and the one piece of information that he did relish in was that this world would, hopefully, have a doctor who could remove his chip. After that, well, after that he would just have to see what this galaxy had to offer while he found a way home. A smile found its way onto Spike's face, the first genuine smile since his chip was implanted. Oh yes, he would definitely have to find out everything he could about this galaxy before leaving.

As Spike's form faded from view the group hug between the three old friends ended. Willow stayed close to Xander while Buffy moved to Riley's side and gave him a small hug. Xander shot a questioning glance her way and was answered with a smile and a nod.

"Riley, this is Xander." Buffy said, "Xander this is Riley, my boyfriend." The two men exchanged pleasantries, followed by a short silence as they sized each other up.

"Any who," Xander broke the quiet. "Now that you guys are here we are going to need to talk. Not here though. Back to my ship. Follow me guys." He picked up his helmet and replaced it on his head. Without another backward glance, Xander left the alley. The small group shared a glance before following, Buffy in the lead and Riley bringing up the rear.

A few moments later…

"And here she is!" Xander announced with a flair of his arms. "The Corellian Gambit! She a bit old, having been constructed over twenty years ago, but she is a classic and is in mint condition. " Xander's friends silently followed after him as he crossed the space between the entrance to the docking bay and the ship.

"An Kuat Drive Yards Amphibious Interstellar Assault Transport/infantry, or a AIAT/I as we spacers call it, is quite impressive, if I say so myself. It has a height of 12.5 meters, a length of 31.5 meters and a wingspan of 30 meters. It has two oversized sub-light engines that is capable of 700 km an hour and armaments capable of leveling small outposts." Xander's love for his ship was evident in his voice, at least to Willow and Buffy.

"This leads me to my next point." Xander continued. "I wanted to wait until I had proof before I told you this but you guys are no longer on Earth or even in the same galaxy as Earth. Believe it or not you are in a galaxy where Star Wars seems to be real."

"Oh come on." Riley interrupted. "You expect me to believe that Star Wars is real? Jedi and the force and all that?"

"Believe it or not its true." Xander answered. "Unless you believe that the Air force has planes like that?" Not receiving an answer from the solider Xander continued. "We are currently on Nal Hutta, a Hut planet…"

Xander was, once more, interrupted. This time it was a short, brown reptile like creature with smooth skin. He was wearing glasses and a dirty brown outfit. He was carrying a small box and he walked straight past the four of them without so much as a glance toward them.

"Goon! Come here. I want you to meet my friends." Xander called.

"No, no. No time. Plenty to do, no time to do it in." The creature, obviously Goon, answered in a shrill voice. "Goon would be pleased to meet them but is too busy. Bye!" With that he disappeared up the boarding ramp of the Gambit.

"Well, he was awfully nice for a demon. Friend of yours?" Buffy asked.

"Yes he is a friend but not a demon, merely a alien. From what I can tell there are no demons in this universe, only different species of aliens." he answered.

"Shit! Spike!" Riley swore. "We forgot all about him!" "Spike? What about him?" Xander asked.

"He was close to us when the portal appeared and I seen him after we appeared. He must have sneaked away when we weren't looking." Riley answered.

"OK," Xander's hand rose to his armored forehead. "He could be anywhere by now and looking for him now would be pointless. The only thing we can hope is that he don't cause too much trouble before we can catch him. Before you explain why you didn't dust Spike when you had a chance lets get inside. Come on."

Meanwhile on a small moon…

Riv watched as his pup, Oz, went through the steps of the kata once more. As Riv watched his pup he felt a sense of pride well up inside his chest. His pup had come along very well is such a short amount of time. Already he was at the second tier of the Art, as they called their form of martial art, and he was beginning to feel more at ease with himself. If it hadn't been for the unwelcome transformations, which had occurred four times a month instead of the three he was used to, he believed that the pup would be further along in his meditation training. Looking up at the sky, and the clear view of the full second moon of Uvena III, Riv smiled and crossed the grass over to his young pup.

It took Oz several moments for him to notice his master, for want of a better term, standing at the edge of the clearing. Finishing his current kata he stood there and waited.

"Good, pup." Riv told him. "You have came far in your studies. In fact, look up."

Oz obeyed only to stare in shock at the bright full moon. It lasted all of a minute before the change overtook him. Riv sighed and signaled to the three young shistavanens he had ready just for this instance. They raced forward but were just a little too late. Oz had already finished his transformation and ran off into the forest. The three pups gave a happy yip/growl and chased off after him on all fours. It took them about an hour until they returned with a bound Oz and they quickly deposited him in the force cage they had rigged up to contain him. Oz managed to break free of his rope bonds just as the shields went up.

The next morning…

Oz slowly opened his eyes. His entire body was in pain and, while not unusual, his muscles felt as if they had went through a meat grinder. Giving a slight groan, Oz got to his feet and stumbled to the hidden compartment in the ground where both his clothes and the controls to the opaque shields that made up his cage were kept. Grinding his teeth in pain, Oz got dressed and ran himself through a series of exercises to loosen his muscles. As he finished he felt the pain dull to a acceptable throb and he shut off the shields.

As he had expected three of the wolfmen, as he liked to call them, were waiting for him. As Oz looked at them he got strange, flashes, of running through the forest being chased by these three. It was odd. Ever since he had began his meditation training he was able to remember more and more of what happened when he was transformed. He remembered being chased, them catching him, the fight that ensued and them taking him down through pure numbers. After that everything became quite blurry, the only other clear memory was him throwing himself at the shields holding him.

Shaking his head to drive the memories from his head, Oz raised a hand in greeting and continued on his way. As he walked Oz watched the other trainees work through the same exercises and meditations that he was learning. Every trainee was fifteen years old or older, some even as old as thirty. All of them had tired of the traditional shistavanen way of life and had decided to seek out the order to better themselves.

Oz stopped to watch a sparring match between two second tier trainees. It was apparent, form the damage that each trainees had sustained, that the match had been going on for quite a while. One of the trainees, a gray furred female, leaped forward bringing her claws down upon her partner's shoulder. Her partner, a black furred male, was unable to dodge in time and received a deep gash alongside his bicep. Oz had to fight the urge to run to his aide. The shistavanens healed quickly, recovering from most minor wounds in a matter of hours and most major wounds in a matter of days.

The male quickly adjusted to the loss of his arm and launched his counter attack. He used his powerful hind legs and leapt straight up into the air. The female seemed to expect this and rolled under him just as he came crashing down in the place where she was a few seconds ago. The male was off balance for just a second but that was all she needed. She spun, grabbed the male by his shoulders, flipped him over her head and slammed him face down into the ground with her on his back. Try as he might the male could not get out from underneath her. After a few minutes of fruitless struggling he gave up and she helped him to his feet. All around them their audience gave growls of approval while Oz merely clapped his hands and moved on.

It took Oz several more minutes before he reached his master's hut. Entering the hut he bowed his head in respect to his master and waited.

It wasn't long before Riv spoke. "Well, pup, you have done what you wanted. You suppressed your beast."

"I didn't." Oz replied. "I still changed."

"Only because I brought your attention to the moon." he answered. "If you hadn't noticed it, you would've stayed human."

"Are you sure?"Oz asked.

"Very sure. If you would like you can try it tonight. Maintain your focus, pup, and you will be fine. Have you thought about whats next for you. Pup?"

"Huh?" was the young man's response.

"Typical of the young pups." Riv shock his head. "Never thinking ahead. You are more at peace with your inner pup, correct?"

"Well, ya." He answered. "I have had less of a struggle lately with my inner wolf."

"Did you ever think that you may be able to fully control the change?" Riv asked. "That you may feel what it is like to run through the forest on all fours, feel the wind rush through your fur as you hunt or even to be the hunted? Trust me on this, pup, it is a feeling that you wouldn't soon forget. It is one of the reasons that my people are obsessed with the hunt. Well, pup?"

"Do you think it is possible?"

Riv regarded his young student for a moment in silence. "Would you be able to forgive yourself if you didn't try or not ask yourself what could have been, pup?"

Oz shook his head. "Alright how do we begin?" "Meditation form two." Riv continued as Oz fell into his meditation form. "You are going to try and go deeper then you have ever before tried. Begin."

Oz did as his master told him to, his body falling into the pattern he had been conditioning it to the last year. As he fell deeper and deeper into his subconscious mind he felt the primitive mind of his inner wolf rise to meet him. Holding the contact without suppressing it was difficult but Oz managed it. As he sat there he couldn't help but to let his mind wander back to the first time he managed to delve this far into his mind...

6 months earlier...

"Concentrate, pup, concentrate!" Riv told Oz.

"You know what would make it easier to concentrate? You not telling me to!" Oz retorted.

Oz winced as the small twig Riv had been holding hit his shoulder. "Focus on your thoughts, not me!"

Taking a deep breath, Oz focused his thoughts inward. His thoughts slowly bleed away leaving him alone in his mind. Even as his mind went silent another mind, a much more primitive mind, rose to meet his own. Before he could react the primitive mind slammed into his own and he found himself inside forest in the middle of the night. Looking up Oz could see a blood red full moon. Oz's attention was tore away from the moon by a growl. Turning towards the sound, he spotted a werewolf, a terror of a werewolf with seven inch claws and three inch teeth, enter the clearing.

Any surprise Oz felt was pushed from his mind the moment the werewolf charged him. Oz threw himself away from the wolf as he was attacked. The wolf's claws slashed through his shirt but, thankfully, missed his skin. Oz kept himself ahead of the wolf for the next few minutes before the wolf, getting angry, jumped and landed on top of him. As he felt the werewolf's teeth clamp down on his throat, Oz felt something inside of him, change. Fury and rage began to overcome his mental barriers. As his mental barriers fell, Oz felt power fill him.

Along with the power came a sense of euphoria that carried Oz away. Unknown to Oz as he was being carried away with his new feelings, his real body was undergoing changes that it usually only went through when under the full moon. Luckily, for Oz's conscience if not his body, the werewolf attacked the first creature he spotted: Master Riv. As the wolf jumped at Riv, the elderly master merely fell back and used his powerful legs to propel the wolf across the clearing.

The wolf landed, recovered and charged once more at the prone figure of master Riv. Rather than try to get to his feet, Riv twisted on the ground propelling his feet into the side of the wolf's snout. Instead of killing his momentum, Riv used it to come to his feet just ahead of the werewolf's claws. Ducking both claws Riv lashed out with his own, only just remembering in time to hold back to prevent Oz from suffering permanent damage. Both his claws hit the wolf square in the chest and Riv followed up by jumping on top of the wolf this time. Holding the wolf down, Riv gave out a loud howl.

By the time help arrived two minutes later, Riv found himself pant in exhaustion. 'The pup may not have skill,' Riv thought to himself. 'But his strength is amazing. Hes stronger then any of our pups.'

Oz mentally shook his head, bringing his mind back to the present. It had taken four of the young warriors, the same four who guarded him now in fact, to overpower his wolf and it hadn't been easy. In the end it took master Riv to knock him out while the four young warriors held him.

Oz felt the small twig snap across his shoulder. Opening his eyes he saw a disapproving look upon his master's face. "Listen pup, here is what you will do...." As Oz fell deeper into his mind the voice of his master's instructions were the only thing he could hear.


End file.
